Kreativ Blogger Award & A Baker's Dozen "Quirky" Things About Moi...

Isn't this one of the most beautiful blog awards??

It was awarded to me by what I predict will be one of the web's fastest rising "stars" (just wait, you heard it hear first) -- Cheryl of Cheryl's Fascinating Finds.

Cheryl's home was featured on The Old Painted Cottage website's "Cottage of the Month" and rightfully so! Check it out here!

Thank you SO much, Cheryl! I'm so glad we found each other and you can bet I've become one of your loyal blog followers!! I've already been looking for ways to implement some of the ideas I saw in your home pictures into my home! Thanks for so much inspiration and for this award!

Part of this fun award is that I am supposed to tell you a handful of fun, little-known, quirky facts about me.

Here goes:

1.) I wear a lot of black. No. I'm not goth - just love black. Its simple, elegant, and timeless. Believe me, I've tried to buy & incorporate more color into my wardrobe, but more often than not, I'm still reaching for something from the BIG section in my closet containing that smooth hue -- ebony. When my sister was helping us move into this house, she ran downstairs from my closet in our house where she was packing up my things and yelled "RUTH! You have like 45 pairs of shoes! AND THEY'RE ALL BLACK!" Yeah? Your point is? You say that like its a bad thing...

2.) I have a propensity for giving people nicknames immediately. You wouldn't be around me long before I'd either be calling you or referring to you as some other name. Not just some random name, but one of a dozen variations of your name or something that would describe you... My poor dog answers to so many names, its a wonder he's ever figured it out. Ditto for my sweet daughter, Olivia (a.k.a. Peach, Nani, Nanda-Wanda, Knocky, Liv, Livvy, Punk, Button, Opie, Shorty, Shorts, etc...). And yes, she's going to kill me for writing this.

3.) I go through vacuum cleaners like others go through, I don't know, disposable razors? Don't know how this happens or why, but I have been known to have to replace my vacuum three times in one year. They just poop out on me. Either that, or they've just died from exhaustion... Okay, well...that sort of ties in with #4...

4.) I'm a compulsive tidy-er. My hubby has to guard his drinking glass with his life or it will suddenly be whisked away by me to the kitchen, dumped, rinsed out and put in the dishwasher -- all while he has just been gone from his seat during a commercial break. Ditto for the newspaper. You have to read quick around here! I could be late for an appointment but I'll spend an extra minute or so on my way out the door cleaning up, putting things away and even stopping to survey a room, thinking to myself "Gee, that chair would look great over in that corner, hmm..." My daughter has been known to almost drag me out of the house when she sees that look in my eye like I'm about to just move this or that around just a tad -- all as we're supposed to be bolting out the door!

5.) Its very hard for me to sit still through a movie. My husband has long given up on this. I'm up and down a hundred times during a movie. Going in to get a drink, getting up to do laundry, up again to let the dog out, then up again to let him back in... "Oh and then he might want a treat afterward (the dog). Gee, probably should check my email... OOPS, that's right, I'm supposed to be watching a movie." Last Sunday, while getting ready for church this quirk about me really showed itself in sick way: I begin to brush my teeth, then I notice a few things on the bathroom counter that need putting away. I proceed to gather them up and head out of the bathroom with them, one in each hand, headed to the closet, and the other areas where these things belong...Then it hits me. My hands are full now of things to be put away. Guess where that leaves the toothbrush...Yeah, beautifully hanging out of my mouth (not a pretty sight) and it hits me...this is CRAZY. Can't I even just complete the task of brushing my teeth without also having to multi-task a billion other things? Anyone else do this? (C'mon -- say you do. Please. Even if you don't. Misery loves company!)

6.) I wear 3" high heels (and those are my "flats!) 99% of the time. I absolutely ABHOR sneakers and cannot see how anyone can call them comfortable. Give me my heels and I guarantee I'm way more comfortable than if I'm wearing those awful, confining sneakers!!! YUCK! I don't know why but the minute I put on a pair of sneakers, I feel like a boy and every fiber of my being is dying to rip them off my feet.

EXCEPT FOR THE LAST MONTH....This has been THE worst month ever for me. I broke a toe by slamming it into a very stationary ottoman after letting my dog back into the house (guess I should have kept my seat, huh?). Crazy thing is, I waited a week and a half to go get it xray-ed, revealing a rather nasty break. So, I've been feeling very un-like myself lately wearing the one pair of flats I could tolerate for the last month (BLACK flats of course) . BUT, I am on the mend and eyeballing my closet-full of BLACK high heels again!

7.) I watch very little TV -- if I had to choose, I'd choose my music playlist over a TV any day. Which is a good thing, I guess, because since we've already determined that I can't sit still long enough to enjoy a show (see #5). I'm better off with music which doesn't demand you sit there staring at it!

8.) I adore baking -- I actually look for reasons to have to bake so I can "get it out of my system" and then give it away to family/friends. I have all manner of cool accouterment to present my baked good in, too: beautiful glossy baker's boxes of all sorts/sizes/colors and whatever I give away is always presented in one of the boxes all tied up with beautiful ribbon and usually embellished with a sticker of some kind (usually something French...). As Martha would say, "Its a good thing." (I blame her, by the way, for this 'perfection-neurosis".)

9.) I have an "affinity" for numbers and really most anything with a bold, graphic theme (words, numbers, letters, etc.). Visitors to my home don't waste any time commenting on the vast array of and unmistakable trend of numbers or words throughout the house. This also ties in with the fact that I've just finished designing my own, new line of decorative pillows which I've named Mathematicus - and they feature: NUMBERS! *They'll make their debut in the store in a couple of weeks, just in time for Christmas!*

One of my daughter's friends dubbed me a "numeric-phile" yesterday (lover of numbers). I like Francophile much better...

By the way, thanks a lot, Josh! ;)

P.S. For the record, Josh can call me whatever he wants (within reason!) because he's been known to show up at my door bearing hot Starbucks and that will cover just about anything!

10.) I will always, always prefer form over function (refer back to #6 for proof). I don't care if something is impractical if it looks beautiful, has meaning, or gives me great satisfaction. That's probably why we have several old, vintage-style black (uh oh, there's that color again...) telephones in the house -- the kind with the rotary dial and NO CALLER I.D...Love 'em! I do draw the line at my computer, though. Though I'd love to say I still work on a vintage, black cast-iron Royal typewriter, uh...no. But I would LOVE to own one to display!!

11.) My parents had me later than most have their children these days, so I was blessed with parents who could give me the treasure of music styles and old sayings that my peers never even heard of. My father married in his 30's and he & my mom proceeded to have 8 kids -- me being the last. So now, as a 45 year old, rather than having parents in maybe their mid-60's, my dad is 92 and my mom 83. This has yielded much in the way of hearing and learning history in ways that no one else my age that I know can appreciate. I love that. I love that I adore Louis Armstrong, Fats Waller, big-band swing music because its what was played while I was growing up. I love that I grew up falling asleep listening to old-time radio shows like The Shadow that they had on recording from years past. I love that my dad has a way of saying things like they did back in the cool movies from the 30's & 40's -- you know, they had that cool way of talking that you just don't hear anymore... So now, I'm as likely to genuinely want to listen to 40's music as I am to newer electronic sounds. I would bet that no one has a more varied iTunes playlist! :)

Its as though I've benefited from two time periods -- the best of my parents' era and the best of the current time. Rich, indeed.

12.) I also have a way of having a song for anything -- I can be talking to my daughter and she'll say something or make a statement and I'll immediately quote a song title that fits. This sort of ties back in with #7, above, doesn't it? Ever notice how after a new blog post, the first song on my blog music playlist (at the bottom of this page) is directly fitted to the subject matter of my post, if at all possible?? Coincidence, or not??? Not. I'm sure it gets old, and she is a trooper (as with the nicknames above). She requested I list this particular quirk -- it must really drive her nuts... I always say "Music is the soundtrack to life..."

13.) In high school, I had hopes of being a doctor, maybe a lawyer. Never happened. Later, after being married for a few years, I enrolled in Interior Design classes at a very good local school. Just days later, when registration fees were due, I found out I was expecting my Olivia. The rest is history. Never returned to the school, but no matter -- look what I have now: a beautiful family, a beautiful store, a truly beautiful life. This, and a cup of Starbucks, pure heaven...

==============================================================


Now its on to nominating a few other blogs to receive the Kreativ Blogger award...

Lisa, at Urban Farmhouse definitely gets a shout-out! LOVE her store!! Oh how I wish I could visit there in person! Until then, thanks Lisa, for the virtual eye-candy!

Jennifer Grey at The Old Painted Cottage. Wow. How she manages to do so much, cover so many bases, I'll never know. You'll her blog -- it features homes across the country -- like the best home decor mags in one place! Plus, she has an online store, etc... Hat's off to you, Jennifer!

Debbie Dusenberry of Curious Sofa Diaries is next up -- oh what a blog, oh what a store. Another store I would give anything to visit. I think she may be the decorator-in-charge in heaven when we get there...

Well, thank you again, Cheryl, for my award. You were SO sweet to think of me and I hope you ladies will stop by Cheryl's and the others' blogs/stores. You're in for a real treat!!